Canons of the Church of England

Canons of the Church of England, called Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical, agreed upon, with the king's license, in the synod held at London in 1603-4. They were drawn up by the Convocation of Canterbury, and accepted by that of York, in order to give effect to the decisions of the Conference held at Hampton Court; and are, for the most part, a digest of old injunctions and canons, with some new ones added. They are 141 in number. They are the basis of the ecclesiastical law, so far as the clergy are concerned, but they are not binding upon the laity, except in so far as they are declaratory of that part of the ancient canon law which had received parliamentary sanction. There had been previous bodies of canons drawn up in 1571, 1576, 1585, and 1597, but those of 1576 had not been sanctioned by the sovereign, and the remainder had been sanctioned for her lifetime only, and so lapsed at her death, not having been published in accordance with the Act 25 Henry VIII. chap. 19. Much of the code of 1603 has become obsolete, either by disuse or as the result of incompatible legislation by the civil power, and notably by the transfer of matrimonial and testamentary causes to the jurisdiction of secular courts. In 1640 the Convocation, which was then assembled with the parliament, prolonged its session beyond it under a fresh writ from the crown, and passed a body of canons of a very aggressive character; amongst other things, enjoining that on some Sunday in every quarter, every officiating minister should insist on the divine right of kings and their prerogatives, and enforce conformity to the rites of the Church of England. In these canons it was directed that the communion-table should be railed in, and be placed as in cathedrals, which is now done in all churches; and another canon obliged the clergy to swear conformity to the Church of England in a form known as the 'Et Cætera Oath,' which raised an uproar throughout the country. These canons were abrogated by an act passed in the 13th year of Charles II. An account of these canons and those now in force may be found at length in Hook's Church Dictionary.—Every clergyman, when instituted to a benefice or licensed to a cure, promises Canonical Obedience to the bishop—i.e. the obedience due according to the canons of the church.